What is Bogarting?
## Definition
To bogart something is to hog it, to refuse to share, or to keep something for yourself when social convention demands you pass it around. The term’s most famous usage is in the context of marijuana: “Don’t bogart that joint, my friend” is practically a commandment in cannabis culture. But the term has spread far beyond its smoky origins to describe any situation where someone is being gratuitously selfish with a shared resource.
The verb comes from Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart, the iconic film noir actor whose characters were constantly seen with cigarettes dangling from their lips. The implication is that Bogart would let a cigarette burn down to the filter while he stared moodily into the middle distance, never actually smoking it, just letting it sit there as a prop. In a world of limited cigarettes (and joints), this was the height of selfishness.
## Why It Matters
Bogarting matters because it captures a universal social tension: the person who takes more than their fair share. Whether it’s the last slice of pizza, the office printer, the aux cord at a party, or yes, the joint, bogarting is the small-scale selfishness that drives people quietly insane. It’s not a crime. It’s not even a major moral failing. But it’s the kind of thing that makes your eye twitch when you notice it happening for the third time in one evening.
The term also matters because it represents one of the rare moments where cannabis culture successfully exported a term into mainstream English. Most drug slang stays in its lane, but “bogarting” broke through. You can hear it in corporate meetings (“Let’s not bogart the conference room”), in parenting contexts (“Don’t bogart the TV remote”), and in any situation where someone is being a selfish jerk about a shared resource. It’s a testament to how language evolves: from Easy Rider to boardroom jargon in fifty years.
## Example
At a party, someone puts on a playlist. It’s a good playlist. People are vibing. Then Dave arrives. Dave immediately connects his phone to the Bluetooth speaker and starts playing his “experimental noise project” that he recorded in his garage. Dave has now bogarted the music. The social contract of the party has been violated. Dave doesn’t notice. Dave never notices. Dave is, in fact, bogarting the vibe itself.
Or consider the office scenario: there’s one decent standing desk in the open-plan office. Mark gets in at 7 AM and claims it. Every day. Mark doesn’t have back problems. Mark just likes being tall. Mark is bogarting the standing desk. Mark will continue to bogart the standing desk until someone says something, and nobody will, because confrontation is harder than just being annoyed.
## Internet Angle
The internet loves a bogart. Not the person, but the concept. The term has found new life in online culture, where “bogarting” has been applied to everything from bandwidth hogging to Reddit karma farming. The phrase “Don’t bogart the thread” appears regularly in forum discussions when someone dominates a conversation with their own agenda. Memes about bogarting proliferate in cannabis communities, often featuring Humphrey Bogart’s face photoshopped onto various selfish scenarios.
The most interesting internet evolution is how “bogarting” has become detached from its original meaning. Most people under thirty who use the term have never seen Easy Rider, don’t know who Humphrey Bogart is, and have only a vague understanding that the word has something to do with not sharing. This is how language dies and is reborn: stripped of context, reduced to pure function, and passed along like a joint that, ironically, nobody is bogarting.
## Related Terms
– **Hogging:** The more straightforward, less cinematic way to describe the same behavior. “Hogging the remote” lacks Bogart’s doomed romanticism but gets the point across.
– **Humphrey Bogart:** The legendary actor whose smoking habits inspired an entire verb. Star of Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and the collective unconscious of cannabis enthusiasts.
– **Easy Rider:** The 1969 film where the term “Don’t bogart that joint” was popularized, starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. The film’s soundtrack included the song by Fraternity of Man, cementing the phrase in counterculture history.
– **Puff-Puff-Pass:** The etiquette rule that bogarting violates. The sacred protocol of cannabis sharing: take two hits, pass it on. Violation is grounds for social exile.
– **Cornering:** The opposite of bogarting in smoking culture—lighting only the edge of the bowl so the next person gets a fresh green hit. The considerate smoker’s alternative.
– **Mooch:** Someone who takes more than they give. The bogart’s spiritual cousin, but more focused on taking than on hoarding. A mooch asks for a hit; a bogart keeps the whole bowl.
– **Shotgun:** Another cannabis term from the same era, referring to blowing smoke into someone else’s mouth. The romantic, sharing-oriented counterpoint to bogarting.